Surveillance operators typically use a closed circuit TV (CCTV) monitoring system to monitor an area under surveillance for any suspicious activity through fixed or pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras. In areas where the operator might suspect something suspicious, i.e. at point-of-sale devices, ATMs, slot machines and gaming tables, etc., (collectively these devices are referred to hereinafter as transaction devices) the operator may need to view the transactions being generated in the area and/or by the monitored devices to confirm a fraudulent activity or theft.
A limitation to the conventional CCTV monitoring system is that if a tampering or software malfunction has occurred at the device, the operator is not notified through the CCTV monitoring system. Instead, the operator needs to use other applications that interface with and capture transactions from these devices and link the transactions with the CCTV video. However, it is not feasible for an operator to stop the current monitoring and go to other applications to view transaction events, thus this type of tampering can now only be detected at a later stage when a detailed report is generated by the application capturing the events and verified with video content. Such a surveillance workflow requires time and extra effort. In addition, by not identifying the tampering as it is occurring, there is a greater chance that the perpetrator may avoid capture altogether.